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Imagine you are advising a student expedition on what to take to survive in our extreme environment, what items would you suggest they need and how would they help with the climate and landscape?

Some ideas to consider

• Clothing. Students would need appropriate clothing to cope with the low temperatures, lots of thin layers will be better than one thick layer, because the air can circulate and retain heat. If students become warm, they can strip layers, highly important, because if the temperature drops the sweat can freeze, lowering the body temperature. Students will also need warm gloves and boots. This is highly important because the extremities of the body are first to suffer from frostbite, as blood vessels contract to retain heat near the body’s major organs. Remember students will need more clothing as they move into the continent, as the relief rises and the influence of the sea declines (Continentality) . Students will also need a windproof jacket, to keep out the strong katabatic winds, remember the temperatures will effectively drop with strong winds, known as wind chill. Much heat is lost from the head, so a good hat is needed. The face should also be covered with a scarf, to avoid frost nip on the face.
• Goggles. To avoid snow blindness caused by the sun reflecting off the ice and also to stop ice crystals damaging the eyes during blizzards.
• Vaseline. The air in Antarctica is very dry, so lips and skin can dehydrate quickly, leaving it sore and cracked.
• Travelling equipment. If students are travelling, skis and a sledge would be useful, especially to transport supplies, though these would not be particularly useful if they come across sustrugi. Skis may also offer some protection against crevasses, but students should also take deadmen (strong pegs) and ice axes in case they get into trouble.
• Food. If students intend to stay on the continent for an extended period of time they will need a high calorie diet, the cold conditions and high relief make any physical activity highly exhausting. Students should make sure the diet is balanced and contains they necessary vitamins, otherwise over extended periods malnutrition and scurvy may occur. Students would want to take dehydrated food, this will take up less space and be lighter. Students should also ration their food carefully, allowing for emergencies. In the interior, there is no chance of finding food due to the lack of fauna and flora.
• Fuel. To keep warm, heat food and melt ice needed for water. Dehydration is a huge issue in Antarctica.
• GPS. Blizzards and white outs would be particularly hard to navigate in, but it is best to sit these out.Three would be useful, just in case of a malfunction. A traditional compass and sexton would also be useful, in case technology fails.
• Trent. (next to the city ground)Obviously to sleep in, but will also protect against exposure during poor weather.
• Satellite Telephone. In case of emergencies, but rescue attempts would be extremely difficult due geographical isolation.

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Study resource 18.

Which of the photos shows our extreme environment?

In this case Antarctica would be photograph A, a polar region.

Remember that an extreme environment exhibits a harsh, and challenging, climate and landscape that makes it difficult to sustain human life.

Why would Antarctica be classed as an extreme environment?

• The extremely low temperatures that make it difficult to work and live, humans are at risk of frostbite and hypothermia. Vostok on average in Winter is -60.
• The low precipitation that makes fresh water difficult to find, without fuel needed to melt ice. Remember that Antarctica is a desert.
• The strong katabatic winds that make working and travelling difficult.
• The challenging landscape, covered by a thick ice sheet, that makes it impossible to farm, extract natural resources and travel.
• Natural hazards that occur as a result of the climate and landscape, such as sustrugi, blizzards, whiteouts, crevasses.
• Periods of 24 hour darkness during its winter, because the South Hemisphere is titled away from the sun, making work and travel difficult, but also causing mental problems, such as depression, for humans.
• The remoteness of the area, it is difficult to get to, particularly during winter, because of the cold air temperatures making flights difficult and cold ocean temperatures resulting in pack ice on sea.

How is our extreme environment used by people?

There is a number of ways that Antarctica is used by people.

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Study Resource 16

This resource is about the benefits of organic farming and produce. Using the resource, write down a list reasons why a consumer may choose local organic produce.

Then continue reading the post below and compare your thoughts to mine.

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Thanks to those of you that attended the revision session tonight, I thought it was very useful.

Changes in my ‘place’…..

You have studied studied Ilkeston as ‘your place’. We have studied both the opening of a new Tesco store and the closure of Stanton Steelworks.

Let’s consider the opening of the new Tesco.

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What types of houses would you build on the Longford or Gloucester Docks?

You need to consider a number of resources here.

Study Resource.4

This shows that the number of single households are increasing. So it might suggest that single apartments would be most appropriate. You might want to consider by how much these types of households will increase, what is the projected increase in the number of these households between 2006 and 2021?

Study Resource.14

if we study the fieldwork data of Year 10 students, around 26% of those surveyed suggested they wanted to see single bedroom apartments or properties for first term buyers, but around 36% of those surveyed wanted two and three bedroom family homes.

This suggests that a mixed development of single households and two and three bedroom family homes would be appropriate.

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Study Resource 6.

Using the map resource consider the location of Longford and the Gloucester Docks.

Write a brief description of where they are located.

Think about

• Where they are in relation to Gloucester city centre, North, East, South etc…
• Using the scale to provide a distance from the city centre.
• Are they on the outskirts of the city or within the city?
• Roads, water courses or buildings that they are close to.

Study the resources about the Longford site and Gloucester Docks.

Which do you think would be best to build houses upon?

One of the sites is a Brownfield site, it was been used before for industry.

One of the sites is a Greenfield site, it is land that hasn’t been built upon and has been used for farming. (more…)

Session.2 can be found here.

Sorry about the previous post, College internet was very slow and doing strange things to the blog… Please let me know via comment, email or private word whether these posts are useful, otherwise I can spend my time on other things…

How will development of the Gloucestershire docks cause conflict? 

The new Gloucestershire Docks development will be multi-functional, basically lots of different land-use, how might they come into conflict?

One type of land-use being next to the other might not be a good idea!

For example, why might it be useful not to have pubs and housing located next to each other? (more…)

Session one can be found here.

Study Resource.9

Why do you think Gloucester docks have become attractive to tourists?

Look at the resource and make a list of the attractions that tourist might want to visit, also think about how the environment may attract tourists.

The term heritage tourism might be useful to consider here, this is tourism that is based upon the historical and cultural history of a place, basically the events and sites that have influenced the character of the ‘place’.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in the new dockside apartments?

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This is the first session in preparation for your mock exam. Please read the post whilst studying the resources, also have a go at answering the questions.

Understanding some trigger terms.

You may find the following trigger words in your exam questions, in order to answer the questions you need to understand the trigger terms.

Why is the U.K’s population growing?

As Resource 1 shows the U.K. population is growing, there are a number of reasons for this

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Your mock exam is coming up on the morning of Wednesday 28th of November, on Monday each of you will be given a pre-release book, as you will do in the real examination, except that in the summer you will receive the booklet six weeks before instead of one , you will need to read the information on the inside of the booklet very carefully, this gives guidance on how to use the resources and the areas to focus your preparation and revision upon. Before the mock you must carefully consider the resources. (more…)